Page 56 - AVN December 2016

by AVN STAFF
Going From Blue to Green Online vets grow into a new adult-oriented industry
the recent U.S. elections as a
Many in the adult industry viewed
two-issue event. Who would win
control of the White House, and
how would California voters decide
the Prop 60 condom regulation? To the relief
of adult businesses interests Prop 60 was voted
down by a narrow 54- to 46-percent margin, but
another measure on the California ballot may have
had even greater implications for many veterans
of the adult industry who have been gaining
traction in another adult-oriented industry as
voters in Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas
approved medical marijuana initiatives for the first
time, while voters in Montana also rolled back
restrictions on an existing medical marijuana law.
Even more significantly, California, Massachusetts
and Nevada approved recreational marijuana
initiatives, joining Washington, Colorado, Alaska
and Oregon as states that now allow adults over
the age of 21 to purchase marijuana legally without
any medical authorization.
Outside the United States, Canada is already
onboard with national legalization and the Deloitte
report titled Recreational Marijuana: Insights
and Opportunities concludes that Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau’s legalization of cannabis next year
will create a weed market requiring production of
600,000 kilograms of marijuana annually, which is
far more than the existing 36 licensed producers
grow for medicinal purposes currently. The
explosive growth is reminding many of the dotcom
revolution, and many of the same people who were
quick to capitalize on the digital evolution of blue
content are already hard at work developing ways
to ride this new green wave as well.
“I’m always fascinated by people who suggest
they are leaving adult to get into something
else, when the reality is that so many companies
and business owners now have a hand in many
different businesses,” said Stewart Tongue,
president of EngineFood.com in adult and
WeedStoreReviews.com in cannabis. “So much
of what I am doing in one industry feeds off the
other or is accelerated by what past experience
has taught me. Running a successful marijuana
store review site is a hell of a lot simpler when you
have already built and operated several successful
review sites in adult. It’s not as simple as porting
over a few scripts, obviously, but it definitely saved
me hundreds of hours and I often feel déjà vu
when solving a challenge in the green industry that
has already come up in a slightly different way in
the blue industry before.”
Many agreed that the mindset of working
in adult online is where most of the useful
similarities and competitive advantages come into
play. “Shifting from adult to cannabis isn’t as easy
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as some people think,” said Jimmy James of HugeApeMedia, the parent company of many brands in cannabis,
including HighOC.com. “Yes, there are legal obstacles to overcome in both, but the specifics are very different
and cannabis has a lot more state-to-state challenges to deal with than porn, which is typically regulated on a
more federally level playing field currently. Still, the adapt-or-die mentality that is beaten into every successful
adult pioneer is exceptionally valuable in any emerging market, and the get-it-done attitude that comes from
years of working with forward-thinking people online who see a high barrier to entry as a way to secure their
opportunities is definitely part of the reason we are succeeding where others who never spent a day in adult
online have already failed.”
“The biggest surprise to me was not how many adult
businesspeople have gotten into the green industry,
but how much more advanced they are in terms of company setups,
marketing and the general business acumen they have.”
—Mike Ackerman, president, ActuallyHelping.com
FEATURE
In some cases cannabis is permitted in places where adult has still yet to break through. “Jimmy makes a great
point about the adapt or die axiom of adult,” echoed Tongue. “There is a misconception that just because weed
and porn are both taboo they are much the same. Yes, there are similarities, as backyard growers turn into online
weed brands the way many video rental businesses evolved into online porn stores back in the day. However,
other aspects are very different. For example, WeedStoreReviews.com became one of the first major cannabis
sites to have its mobile app available for download in the iTunes and Google Play app stores. Now anyone can
download our app on their iPhone or Android device straight from the largest app stores in the world—which is
>>
something no adult video site has managed to be able to arrange effectively. Nothing specific that I did in adult
enabled me to get into iTunes with Weed Store Reviews, but I can tell you we had our submission rejected 14
times for unexplained reasons before it was accepted. I am genuinely thankful the adult online industry instilled
in me the successful approach of figuring out unexplained hurdles independently, being persistent, and working
every possible angle until all your goals get reached.”